A new £1.6 million closed-circuit television (CCTV) system is set to keep an eye on 900 homes in Bradford.

More than 100 powerful digital cameras have been installed around Buchan Towers, Evans Towers and Douglas Towers in the Park Lane area off Manchester Road, and around Fairfax House, Newcastle House, Ruth House, Rossett House and Underwood House at the Church Bank and Barkerend Road junction of Otley Road.

Residents are charged an extra £5 a week for 24-hour security officers who monitor images from the cameras which cover lifts, staircases, play areas and car parks.

They work from a concierge lodge in Buchan Towers linked to the Bradford Council-run city centre CCTV system.

Bradford West City Community Housing Trust, which has funded the scheme with Bradford Council and the Home Office, said the scheme heralded the start of an overhaul of the flats.

Ralph Hewitt, housing trust chairman, said: "Tower blocks have suffered a poor image in recent years and we aim to change that by making these buildings into desirable city centre living.

"Our new CCTV system is the first major 'building block' in this process. Our aim is to improve the quality of life for residents in the blocks. Putting in CCTV and concierge systems not only acts as a deterrent to would-be vandals and criminals, it makes local residents feel safer in their homes."

Alice Lord, 80, has lived in Ruth House since 1963. She said: "It used to be a beautiful block here and you had to wait until someone died before you could get a flat, but things have changed. I hope the CCTV will make it safer."

Earlier this year, 48-year-old former milkman John Owen condemned the area around Manchester Road after teenage thugs used his own garden gate to beat him to the ground and shatter his knee outside his home in Hawkshead Drive.

But residents living further up Otley Road, who campaigned for their own CCTV camera after muggings including a number on pensioners in Undercliffe, said the cameras did not stretch far enough.

Otley Road Tenants' and Residents' Association secretary Christine Radin welcomed the plan but said crime would be pushed further up Otley Road to areas not covered by CCTV.

The housing trust plans to install gates and fences around the blocks and hopes landscaping will improve the quality of life for residents.

The CCTV scheme was having its official launch today.